As you may have seen the past few days on the blog, former KJR host Mike Gastineau has written a book called “Sounders FC: Authentic Masterpiece”. It covers the MLS launch of the Sounders, with all the behind-the-scenes details, and has been released this month (available through his website and on Amazon).

Gastineau, who did a Q&A and a live chat with us, has shared an excerpt from the book that starts at the second half of the franchise’s inaugural game in 2009.

Some interesting excerpts from the excerpt:

“I wasn’t having to make a lot of saves and that’s when I knew we were going to be all right. I knew we were going to able to compete.”

“You couldn’t hear the guy 5 yards from you. It was that loud. It was something unseen to that point in this country.”

“I had never witnessed anything like it. I remember walking off the pitch and thinking to myself, ‘Wow. Maybe soccer has finally arrived in America.’”